HIS week, we’ve got Rear handles, ratchets, power-stack batteries, cordless vs corded, and yup, that’s the Milwaukee Patent for an honest to God track-saw boys. This is your Power Tool Week in Review!
Welcome back power tool fans, there is a lot to cover this week so lets waste no time and get started with Shop Tool Reviews.
Shop Tool Reviews | FLEX Rear Handle Circular Saw
This is the all new FLEX 24V Brushless Rear Handle Circular Saw. Tim does a thorough job going over every detail and feature of the saw along with the 10ah stacked lithium battery that he used in his testing.
Speaking of testing he pretty much goes through everything you would expect from someone reviewing a circular saw, like plunge cuts, cross cuts, bevel cuts, rip cuts, ripped bevel cuts, lots of cuts. So after all of the…cutting what does he think of the thing? Well, “Performance-wise this thing is absolutely impressive you can push this thing as hard as you want to”. Which is good news, because around here we like to push our saws hard! For the full review head over to Shop Tool Reviews.
Doresoom Tool Reviews | Milwaukee M18 Track Saw
A few months ago we had the exclusive first look at the Milwaukee Track-saw. But a true Milwaukee Track-saw STILL… is a thing of leaks and legends. Many of us are hoping that it will finally show up at one of the upcoming PIPELINE events this year. And this week, our buddy Nate from Doresoom Tool Reviews found our best clue yet.
Yup, that’s the official patent for the Milwaukee Track Saw that still doesn’t yet exist. Now a lot of patents like this are held back as long as possible, to keep development an industry secret. So with it showing up now… I’m just sayin, that ain’t a bad sign boys. After diving deep into the new listing, Nate identifies a few minor details, all of which you’d expect from a modern track-saw. But most interestingly, he compares this listing to previous listings that have made it to market, to give us his best guess as to when we’ll see the real deal announced from Milwaukee. The answer will likely make you happy. Unless you don’t want this saw, in which case you’ll be indifferent. Still watch the video at Doresoom Tool Reviews.
Torque Test Channel | DeWALT’s New 20V Ratchet
Testing tools IS a science. Take these cordless ratchets. While they all “feel good in the hand” some will be faster, some more powerful, while others are a better value.
This week TTC opened up the all-new DeWALT 20V Atomic version, to see if it wins any or even all of those categories. Their testing included the usual suspects from Milwaukee, plus the 24v from Kobalt, and a 20v version from Craftsman. But the seemingly least interesting turned out to be the most. The new DeWALT 20v Atomic ratchet is on the bottom while it’s less powerful, 12v Xtreme little brother is on the top. It would seem to be a pretty safe assumption that a cheaper, lower spec’d, lower-priced version would perform, well, worse. Yeah, you can see where this is going. But beyond that story, this specific test does a great job revealing the many variations in brands, performance and value. There’s no denying the benefits of an effective cordless ratchet, but as it turns out there are many things to consider before you pick one. You can make a far better-informed choice over at Torque Test Channel.
Pipeline Discussion
One week. In just one week, Sarah and I will be flying off to the city known best for Beer, Baseball, Bikers, and BOHEMIAN BLUE bricks of cheese. I’m talking about Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where we’ll be attending the first major Milwaukee tool event since NPS 19. This time around, it’s picked up the name of Milwaukee’s streaming series started in 2020, known as Pipeline…. Huh… Likely because we’ll be seeing what Milwaukee has coming down the pipeline.
That’s right, we’re going to PIPELINE, and after 2 years of being locked up here with Sarah, I’m here for it. We’ll be joined by 30 or so tool Testers, and content creators to see the very latest from Big Red. And while we’re not expecting the 30+ reveals of NPS19, we do have a long list of new tools and major updates that we hope make an appearance. A lot of people have been speculating about what we might see, so we thought we’d ask you guys what you’re hoping for. Let us know in the comments below.
Production Crew Shelf Update
Every month we giveaway a shelf with $2,000 worth of tools and accessories to a random member of our channel, known as the production crew. Last month our winner chose our FLEX round 2 shelf, consisting of all the new tools announced by FLEX this year. Only once so far have we had an OPE shelf, and it went the first month we made it available. So we decided to add another one. This time, we went with Sarah’s brand of choice for outdoor power equipment, the SKIL 40V line.
The power that comes with SKILs PWRCORE 40V Batteries offers more power than anyone would possibly need at home, but at a price that means we get to fill the shelf with all kinds of additional goodies. We grabbed the SKIL PWR Core 40 brushless 20in self-propelled mower, which is hard to find at the moment but should arrive before our next giveaway. We also included the 40V 500CFM blower and 40V 14in String trimmer kit, the PWR Core 40 24in hedge trimmer, the 10in pole saw, and of course, the PWR Core 40 Brushless 14in Chainsaw.
Even with the entire line of PWR Core 40 tools, we still have plenty of cash for a pair of work-boots, although we don’t know which brand to include. If you have an opinion on that, let us know in the comments. We’re also looking for additional PPE including gardening gloves and eye protection. And finally, we tapped our buddy Allyn, known here on Youtube as The Lawn Care Nut, to provide the winner with $200 worth of premium lawn fertilizer, specifically chosen for their type of lawn by the Lawn Care Nut Himself. So if our winner doesn’t need a full collection of pro power tools, they can instead choose our OPE shelf and work on the perfect lawn instead. And of course, even if you don’t need pro accessories for your string trimmer, every shelf comes fully stocked with the very best from Spyder, the exclusive sponsor of our Production Crew.
Besides big giveaways, our Production Crew members also get to join Rob and I for a private live stream every Monday that’s supposed to be a group effort to find the best content for our show, but tends to quickly degrade into a bourbon drinking contest and story time with Rob, who gives away all of our Youtube secrets to our members. If any of that sounds fun to you, consider joining by subscribing, and then click the join button below.
Tools & Stuff | DeWALT Hammer Drill / Impact Driver
Tools & Stuff apparently had a stroke this week, because he accidentally bought some DeWALT tools instead of Makita.
Specifically, he picked up a PowerStack kit that included The DCD805 Hammer Drill, the DCF850 Impact Driver, a charger, and of course two of the new PowerStack 1.7ah batteries. His first observation was the size of the new 850, and Compares it to the 887, which is significantly bigger.
This is Tool’s first experience with the all new PowerStack Lithium-ion pouch technology. So I was anxious to see how it did. But I was distracted by that. Yeah, that’s a T-Stak case, while comes with the kit! Which is just… why. WHY don’t all new power tools come in their respective stackable, clickable, collectible case systems? Seriously… I’m looking at you Milwaukee, and you know it. If next week, I don’t see a single new tool that comes in a Packout, I’m gonna….. Just….Well, leave a sternly worded comment on my own video. Tools puts both of the DeWALT drills through a good series of tests, and in the end… if you watch past the outro, he slips this comment in. “Don’t tell Makita, but this is um, my goto. It’s just so nice and light to use..”
Project Farm | Is Cordless Power Better?
Todd set out to find the answer to the question “Are Corded Tools more powerful than cordless ones?” In the most Todd way possible which means lots of crazy tool testing rigs,
He compares Makita circular saws, DeWALT drills and angle grinders, Milwaukee reciprocating saws and Ridgid oscillating multi tools. Now this wouldn’t be a Project Farm video if he wasn’t thorough so obviously he compared pricing, weight, noise, cutting speed, blade stop speed and vibration. So after all of that, which is better corded or cordless power tools? Well, as it turns out, that depends on how you look at it. Todd points out that cordless tools for the most part cost more, but are quieter, vibrate less and take less time to come to a stop. All good things! Corded tools can be just as fast or even faster than the cordless ones and can be just as efficient but not nearly as convenient as not being tethered to an outlet. So, which do you prefer? Let Todd know in his comments at Project Farm.
Have an amazing weekend.
I want to thank FLEX and Ohio Power Tool for sponsoring this episode, guys we couldn’t do this without you. If you can, do something kind for someone else this week, and we will see you next week.